In my fit of rage today, I decided to get some fresh air by leaving the house. I didn't make it far, just ended up going to my sister's house where I failed to be able to turn on their television. Hey, it was complicated and at the time my mind was all over the place. Anywho, my sister's place has been a mess for quite a while now and that is because she got little to no support from her husband in that area. The kitchen was the worse room. Dishes were molding on the sink, there was food all over the floor, the refrigerator was gross and grimy, and there was the foul stench of death over the entire room. I hate a dirty kitchen and bathroom. I simply can't function in them. So, I decided to clean the kitchen.
I use to live with my sister and well, let's just say I am more adamant about keeping things clean. Then again, having three kids, and four if you count the husband (men and cleaning is an oxymoron), doesn't make it easy to keep things tidy. My sister and her husband separated two days ago and it has been tough. I figure I could help her out a little bit and well, cleaning is very therapeutic.
Well, I started with the dishes and almost every dish was dirty. Not even half way through the dishes I started to feel pain from my neck injury (maybe I will blog about how that happened later). I have been trying to wain off my pain pills but I knew to get the job done I had to pop one. It certainly helped but I was still moving slowly. To make matters worse, I reached for a coffee cup with a broken handle and ended up cutting my left hand pretty badly on the glass. I was soooo enraged. I tossed that shit in the trash even though I knew she liked that cup.
Who keeps a broken coffee cup around, especially with children in the house? In the middle of my cursing and bleeding, I realized the deep symbolism in the cup. It was symbolic of a broken marriage and a broken home. That particular coffee cup was their pride and joy, much like their marriage. Why hold on to something that is broken and dangerous? You have to face the reality that the cup is useless now. By cutting my hand on the cup I realized something else. This mess that I was cleaning up was the mess their marriage had turned into. However, this mess still needed to be cleaned and I wasn't going to let this war wound stop me even though it just kept bleeding no matter how much pressure I put on it. I put a band-aid on and ended up wrapping plastic bags around my hand to protect it from getting wet. It was not easy to work like this. My left had wasn't being very useful and well, with my neck injury, my right arm wasn't moving fast enough.
This too was symbolic of their marriage. My sister was my right hand and her husband was my left. They were supposed to have a partnership but because one hand wasn't giving the other hand the support it needed, the job couldn't get done well. It was so hard to wash the dishes and clean everything but I kept on cleaning because there was a bigger purpose. That is what my sister has to do. It is very possible for her to clean her mess, even though the partner she thought she had won't be around the way that he use to: her left hand. However, I proved that a lot could be done. I didn't get to clean the oven, walls completely, the microwave or the floor, but I got the dishes, the island, and the refrigerator. And the best part is that the dead smell was completely gone!
My sister was grateful for my help and I was grateful for all the knowledge I gained from the experience. You know, there is an old spiritual song that sings, "And you know that Jesus is coming, so get your house in order." Well, the point here is not about Jesus but the meaning of the house. The song doesn't just talk about your physical house but your figurative one. You house is your family, your mind, the place you live and reside. Most people reside with a family but all people live in their mind. I believe that the mess of your house can be metaphorical to the mess in your mind or in my sister's case, the mess of her marriage. Her entire house is dirty, every room! She has let the mess go on for too long and not completely the fault of her own since she thought she had a partner. My sister if a church going woman and well, she needs to get her house in order pronto! The fact that the house has been dirty for so long was so symbolic. I am glad she has finally decided to clean up.
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